This blog is an exploration of principled problem solving which is an initiative at Guilford College encouraging a focus of people's abilities and experiences toward solving real-world problems under the guidance of the college’s core values of community, diversity, equality, excellence, integrity, justice and stewardship.

March 2014

03/10/2014

“Bleep, Bleep, Bleep,” sound of my alarm going off. Its 6am. It’s the fourth week of preseason conditioning. Our task is to complete the sprints and miles in a certain amount of time. We are on the last couple of sprints and one of my teammates was extremely fatigued. I can see in her eyes that she needs that extra push to complete the run. After we finish the sprints, we have to complete the mile. As we all cross the finish line, we soon realize we were missing one of our teammates. We, as a unit, all turn around and find her down the road. As we approach her, she is in pain and complaining that her ankle hurts badly. She expresses that she is unable to walk on it. As a whole, we come up with the idea that we were going to make sure everybody finishes the run no matter what. Two of my teammates pick her up and work together to carry her to the end. At that moment, I realize we are more than just a team, we are like a family. Our motto is “one team, one family”. No one gets left behind and when someone is down, we lift them up.

We are a community. Community can be described as a group who has similar values or interests in a central location. I see community as a population full of diverse individuals brought together in a neutral setting/place. This core value is a perfect representation for my team. The team is full of diverse individuals who were brought together by the game of basketball. We all have at least one thing in common, but it’s the differences that make it unique. Meeting others who fill the needs that you lack is can help you build yourself up and vice versa. I am a point guard so I have learned how to associate with each member on my team. My teammates and I are all in for the cause of building one another. I am all in for creating a good social environment for Guilford. It has been expressed that athletes tend to not bond with non-athletes and that isn’t necessarily true. I am a part of some clubs (BUS and National Honor Society) around campus and I make it my duty to bring as many teammates asI can to different events. Being diverse and open to new things will allow the judgmental points of view to fade away. My teammates and I always support all types of athletics even intramural sports to show our appreciation and school spirit. We want people to attend our games and support us so we have to back others in their specific sports.

Guilford is a small knit community that needs a strong support system. My team is such a small piece to the large puzzle throughout campus. Each day my team strives to not only excel on the court but in the class. We don’t want to be seen as only good athletes, we want to be good academically as well. We understand that we are a representation of the Women’s basketball program so we have to make sure we are presentable at all times. I am one of fourteen on the basketball team, but I speak to you all in hope that you understand that we athletes are unique individuals who are always wanting to learn new things. We love being a part of this tight knit community. Go Quakers!

03/07/2014

The world is a vast and diverse place. It is separated by rivers and oceans, and mountains and caverns – and by differing ideologies and belief systems. There are as many ideologies and belief systems as there are people, regions and cultures of the world. The world uses these differing ideologies to divide itself on such topics as class, religion, and politics – among other things. We divide ourselves into haves and have-nots, into what’s right and wrong, who’s better or lesser than, and who’s good and evil. We fail to realize as citizens of the human race that we can find and build upon common ground if we are brave enough to embrace and value our diversity, rather than make the world a battle of “us” versus “them”.

Guilford College’s Peace and Conflict Studies department hosted a panel: Hopes & Horrors: Revolution, War and Prospects for Peace in the Middle East panel. The panel was a mixed group of six people who have lived, worked, visited and/or studied the Middle East. Four of the panelists were Guilford College faculty members; Max Carter, Eric Mortensen, Jeremy Rinker, and Robert Duncan. Amal Khoury from the Peace and Conflict Studies department moderated the event. Each panelist brought information to the discussion that not only informed the people in attendance, but helped all of us to view relationships between people, nations and cultures and gave ideas on how each and every citizen of the world can work toward building a more inclusive world culture.

One of the panelists grew up in Israel. She summed up the entire event for me when she said, “I really want to live in Peace. I think everyone does, but we have all grown cynical.” Collectively as citizens of the world I think we have all lost hope that peace can prevail. We seem to have forgotten that we are a world full of mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, and brothers and sisters. Some of us are marathon runners, some of us are world travelers, and some of us love pizza while others prefer sushi. We smile when we’re happy and cry when we’re not. The things that separate me from you and you from me is designed by flawed human beings – but in the end we are all motivated by our passions and dreams. We all have hopes for a better tomorrow for our children’s children. The only way we can make that happen is if we all somehow, make that a collective dream by focusing on the things that unite us rather than divide us.

Just because we live in a society where we turn away from the things we don’t want to see doesn’t mean it goes away – it just means that it is being ignored. We live in a world where multiculturalism is a dirty word. It’s a world where people throw themselves into an uproar because their kid went on “winter break” on December 21st instead of Christmas vacation. And sadder yet, we live in a world where people who demand that others tell them “Merry Christmas” instead of happy holidays – but refuses to say “Happy Hanukkah” to their Jewish neighbor. We want everyone to understand us and our culture without giving the same courtesy in return. We are given opportunity after opportunity to embrace diversity – but time and time again we choose ignorance. From the panel, the most important thing I took away from the panelists is that, there’s still hope for a world open to diversity, but we have to step up and open our hearts. Peace out.

03/03/2014

Guilford College hosted the seventh annual Soy un Lider Conference. The day started bright and early and volunteers showed up at six in the morning to help set up for the students. The planning committee had been planning the event for months. They had visited schools to inform the students about the event, as well as planned the different workshops that the students could attend during the conference.

Students started to arrive around eight in the morning for registration. Students were given forms to register before the day of the conference, but they were also able to register on the spot. Throughout the day students went to four different workshops that were determined based on the student’s grade, each grade had two workshops that were specific to the students. Those who were juniors and seniors went to two workshops that focused on choosing the right college and the application process, while the lower classmen attended two workshops about preparing for college and empowerment of the individual. Along with these workshops all students attended a workshop with a panel of college students who are Latino and one on financial aid. Along with these workshops we provided them with a light breakfast, lunch, and snacks.

Soy un Lider also has a keynote speaker each year, this year the speaker was a man by the name Moises Serrano. Moises was from Yadkin County, North Carolina, and has worked towards gaining the ability for undocumented students to be able to gain in state tuition to go to college. He spoke at the opening of the conference and also facilitated one of the workshops, entitled empowerment 101. He spoke to students about accepting who they were and understanding that it is okay to be Latino. He explained to be Latino was not a bad thing and nothing anyone could say about the students would change who they really were. Moises wanted the student to be proud of being a Latino. Diversity is one of Guilford’s core values and this is a perfect example of diversity. Students at this conference came from all different countries and different backgrounds. When they left for the day, the volunteers could only hope that the students had a great experience and left with the mind set to be proud and that they could accomplish anything they put their minds to. Moises wanted students to understand that it was okay for the students to be different and to be proud that they were not like everyone else. He was trying to make them understand that being diverse was important.

I am privileged enough to say I was able to not only be a member of the planning committee, but also be a volunteer on the day of the conference. I was able to interact with so many amazing students and tried to get to know where they came from. I had a great conversation with many of the students that were in my group. I was able to tell them my story and in return learn about the different challenges that they had gone through. I look forward to future conferences and hearing about all the things these students have accomplished.